Attorney General Bonta Opposes Lackluster Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Strategic Plan

OAKLAND - California Attorney General Rob Bonta today joined a coalition of 23 attorneys general in submitting a comment letter opposing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) draft Strategic Plan for fiscal years 2026-2030. The plan proposes rollbacks to the agency's supervision, enforcement, and other work, putting consumers at risk of financial harm. In the comment letter, the attorneys general urge the CFPB to reconsider its Strategic Plan, arguing that it would undermine the CFPB's statutory purpose, place a greater burden on state enforcement, and result in less relief for consumers. The CFPB was created to protect consumers in the financial marketplace, and it performs critical functions necessary to the functioning of the financial system. However, the Trump Administration pursued efforts to dismantle the CFPB, threatening catastrophic harm to hardworking families and consumer financial markets nationwide. The Administration's past actions, along with the Strategic Plan's stated goals, have also resulted and will continue to result in less relief for consumers, not more.

"President Trump has pushed policies that have raised the cost of living for Americans. At the same time, the Administration has proposed changes that would make it harder for the CFPB to protect and defend those same Americans from being taken advantage of by big corporations," said Attorney General Bonta. "The CFPB was created to stand up for consumers against big banks, debt collectors, and credit reporting companies, but the changes shown in the Bureau's blueprint for the next five years severely undermine this purpose. When it comes to fighting bad business practices, the federal government should be squarely on the side of the American people."

As the cornerstone of federal consumer financial protections for nearly 15 years, the CFPB has been an invaluable enforcement partner to California, working to protect hardworking families and make the marketplace fairer in California and across the country, returning over $20 billion to Americans since its creation. Among other important functions, the CFPB maintains a publicly available online complaint-handling system and database through which consumers can submit complaints about financial products and services and receive responses from regulated entities. The Trump Administration has taken a series of actions intended to debilitate the CFPB, including issuing a suspension of work across the agency, terminating probationary employees, attempting to issue reduction-in-force notices to 90% of the CFPB's workforce - a move that was swiftly blocked by the courts.

Despite states' best and often successful attempts to curtail the Trump Administration's weakening of the CFPB, the Bureau has dismissed actions resulting in a loss of over $3.5 billion in consumer relief. For example, in 2025 the CFPB dismissed or withdrew 22 enforcement actions, including a lawsuit against Capital One Bank alleging it withheld over $2 billion in interest from its accountholders. In today's comment letter, the attorney generals argue the proposed changes in the Strategic Plan will only make those dismissals more common and those losses greater, including proposals to:

• Focus supervision on depository institutions (like FDIC-insured banks and credit unions) at a critical time when consumers are increasingly turning to nonbanks for credit and other financial services.
• Reduce the collection of civil penalties and remove what the Bureau defines as "improper submissions" to the complaint system, which would result in less recovery for harmed consumers.
• "Minimize duplicative action", a goal that is ill-defined and may result in an increased workload for state supervision and/or a lack of supervision as opposed to streamlining it.
• Deemphasize civil penalties, which would take away a key accountability measure to ensure compliance with consumer protection laws.

Attorney General Bonta joined today's comment letter along with the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

Attorney General Bonta has been an outspoken critic amid the attempts of the Trump Administration's CFPB to shrink its responsibilities and has submitted amicus briefs in Mayor and City Council of Baltimore v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and in National Treasury Employees Union v. Vought, lawsuits challenging the Trump Administration's efforts to dismantle the CFPB. In December 2025, Attorney General Bonta co-led a coalition of 22 attorneys general in filing a lawsuit challenging the CFPB Acting Director's unlawful decision not to fund the agency's operations, preventing it from performing legally mandated functions. That lawsuit is ongoing.